


Widomauk Roller Disco Date Night

by FeralScribe



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caleb can't skate, Dancing, Date Night, Disco, Don’t copy to another site, Includes a romantic game of pinball, M/M, Modern AU, Molly can't resist showing off, Other, because why not, roller skating, some suggestive content, widomauk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-22 18:54:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19971259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeralScribe/pseuds/FeralScribe
Summary: Exactly what it says on the packaging: Molly and Caleb go out for a night of disco dancing at the local roller rink.





	Widomauk Roller Disco Date Night

**Author's Note:**

> You can blame this [tweet by Millimauk](https://twitter.com/_milliiii/status/1153578149474635776) for the idea. I need to stop checking her Twitter every day or I'm gonna get WAY too many ideas...

“Come on, Caleb, it’ll be fun.”

“No, really, I’m fine. I came here to watch you.”

“And _I_ came here to dance with you.”

“Which you can do _without_ roller skates.”

“We’re at a _roller disco_. It’s what you _do_.”

“They also have an arcade.”

Molly rolls his eyes with an exasperated sigh and puts his palm over his face. “Caleb, darling, this was _your_ idea.”

“ _Ja_ , because I know it was, ah, right up your alley.” Caleb wasn’t really the going-out type, but he does enjoy watching Molly have a good time. When he saw the flyer for the roller rink’s Disco Night he could perfectly picture Molly all dressed up and strutting his stuff on the dancefloor. It was something he wanted to see in real life so the image could be permanently added to his memory. He, personally, was uncoordinated and clumsy on just his feet. The private school his parents sent him to as a teenager had mandatory dance classes, but those were for formal events and no form of the waltz he ever learned involved roller skates. The last thing Caleb wants is to make a fool of himself and embarrass Molly in front of a crowd.

“Well, we’re already here,” Molly says, gesturing to the roller rink’s front door. Caleb can already hear the hum and thump of disco music emanating from inside. “We can go somewhere else, though. There was that one Gnomish food place we passed on the way—”

“ _Nein_ ,” Caleb interrupts. “I want to go in. I want to watch you dance.”

“You can watch me up close if you join me.” Molly runs his fingers through Caleb’s hair and brings his hand around to stroke Caleb’s cheek. “It’s alright if you’re nervous about falling, and if you _really_ hate the idea of going into the rink with me, that’s fine. I’m sure they’ve got a space for people to dance without skates. _I_ would very much like to go skating with you, though. Haven’t worn skates since I did that one act with Ornna back in the day, but I have the advantage of a tail to help me balance. I can help you, too.”

Caleb slumps his shoulders in a sigh. “Maybe,” he says. “I’ll… I’ll try the skates on and if I fall flat on my butt I’m taking them off.”

Molly smiles. “That’s fair.” He kisses Caleb on the forehead. “Let’s head on in.”

The shift from the relatively quiet and cool autumn evening to the loud warm interior of the rink is a bit of a shock. The bright colored lights and spinning spots reflecting off the disco ball make Caleb feel queasy for a moment. He tightens his grip around Molly’s waist. Molly rubs him reassuringly on the back.

“You alright?”

Caleb opens his eyes wide and blinks rapidly to adjust. “ _Ja, ich wird gut_.”

Molly kisses the side of Caleb’s head. “Good. Tell me if you’re not, though. We can hit up that arcade you were talking about, _after_ you’ve tried the skates long enough to know whether you can manage in them or not.”

They rent a locker for their stuff as well as skates and safety equipment from the main desk. Caleb is thankful these are the kind of skates with four wheels instead of the ones that are basically ice skates for regular floors. He has attempted ice skating before and knows for certain that, had these been the sort with a single blade of wheels, he would have injured one or both of his ankles the moment he tried to stand. The desk attendant shows them how to shift their toes forward to use the brakes when they want to stop. Caleb pays close attention and mimics the motion as best he can in just his socks.

Once Molly and Caleb are strapped into their knee and elbow pads — Caleb also has a helmet but the rink didn’t have one that fit Molly’s horns — Molly helps Caleb into his skates and onto his feet first. Caleb wobbles for a moment until all his muscles lock up to keep him stationary. He trembles to a full standing position and realizes that the skates make him Molly’s height, or perhaps an inch taller. He’s used to tilting his chin slightly to look Molly in the eye, but now the brilliant rubies set into Molly’s lovely lavender face are directly in front of him.

Molly notices this too. He smiles and leans in to kiss Caleb. The sudden shift in weight pushes Caleb backwards towards the bench. Caleb flails like Frumpkin fleeing from bath time, his fingers digging into Molly’s upper arms the way Frumpkin’s claws dig into his own when the cat scrambles to climb up over Caleb’s shoulders and away from the tub.

“I’ve got you,” Molly says. He chuckles. “Think you can take a few steps with me?”

Caleb isn’t sure he could even sit back down without falling. Molly does have a firm grip on him, though. It might be possible. Caleb nods.

“Okay. We’ll go little by little.” Molly wraps his tail around Caleb’s waist and moves back enough to give Caleb room, but he doesn’t let go of Caleb’s arms. “Right foot first.”

Caleb wills his right foot to move forward. It glides along the floor, but the left one slips back in response. He reflexively freezes. Molly’s tail squeezes him. As soon as Caleb is able to do more than blink without feeling unstable, he changes his strategy. Rather than try to walk normally, he shifts his hold on Molly to push himself up and scoot his feet towards the new center of gravity. Molly is used to adapting to a partner’s movements; he did it all the time in the traveling carnival where he and Caleb first met. His feet shuffle into a stance that can better support them both and he nods to Caleb. Caleb lets out a deep breath to settle his nerves. One foot in front of the other, little by little. It works. Molly moves with him as Caleb takes a few uneasy steps away from the bench.

“You did it!” Molly exclaims. His smile glows with pride. “Think you’re ready for the rink?”

Caleb chuckles nervously. “Th-They’d better all w-watch out. The champion of— of skating hhhas arrived.”

Molly perks up in excited alarm and looks around wildly. “Oh shit, really? Where are they?” He glances back at Caleb from the corner of his eye, barely suppressing a snicker. Caleb merely cocks an unamused eyebrow at him in response. “Only teasing, dear. I’ll put mine on and we’ll go from there, okay?”

“Okay.” Caleb allows Molly to push him back to the bench so they can both sit down. A few other skaters are staring at them. Plenty of people stare when Caleb and Molly go out together. Molly draws a lot of eyes, especially in his current outfit. When Caleb suggested a disco date, Molly dashed out to his favorite shops with Jester to find the perfect seventies clothing. What he came up with was a forest green shirt with long flared sleeves and swirling patterns all over it in paler green and gold blotches, plus a pair of blue-and-grey-striped bell bottom jeans. Many people came to this event in their own costumes, but none of them has an impressive rack of curved horns decked out in gold jewelry to match their shirt like Molly. Caleb stares at him, too, albeit with adoration instead of bewilderment. The most Caleb did for his own costume was finding a cream-colored button-up shirt to wear with his brown corduroys and borrowing one of Molly’s less ostentatious vests for added color.

It's unsurprising when Molly gets up and skates a lap around the bench with minimal issue. He’s unsteady at first, but at least he can move under his own power. He bows and offers Caleb a hand. “Shall we, my dear?”

Caleb takes Molly’s hand and gets up like a baby deer standing for the first time. “Why not?” he replies with a smile.

There are other beginners hugging the edge of the rink or stumbling around clinging to the waist-height wall. Caleb’s goal is to make it once around the entire rink without needing assistance from anything but Molly. They move very slowly. Molly waves his tail behind them to help them both stay on their feet. In the middle of the rink, directly beneath the disco ball, a small crowd has gathered to watch a few expert dancers who are performing effortless maneuvers on their skates. Caleb dares to watch as well in between staring at the ground and looking to Molly for assurance that his partner is still in control. Part of him wishes he could dance like that, with skates or without. Molly is so much more talented than he is in so many ways, and while Molly is impressed by Caleb’s intellect and encyclopedic knowledge of linguistics and history, that’s not something Caleb can show off on a date. He knows Molly loves him regardless, but Caleb dreams of someday being able to do something spectacular or creative to prove he’s worthy of someone as astounding as Molly.

Caleb does amaze himself when the entrance to the rink is suddenly a mere five feet away and he hasn’t fallen on his ass once. However, his heart is pounding like mad and he is ready for a break. Perhaps later he’ll be able to dance with Molly if Molly holds his hands.

Molly helps him through the door, then says, “Mind waiting here for me for a little bit?”

“Er, sure. Where are you going?”

“You wanted to see me dance, right?” Molly asks with a grin. He jerks his head to indicate the assemblage at the center of the rink. “I’m going to give you what you came for.”

Caleb reaches out to squeeze Molly’s hand. “Be careful.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

Molly skates over to the other dancers, grooving and shaking his literal and metaphorical tail along the way. Caleb leans on the wall with his knees locked straight. The other dancers make room for Molly when they see him roll up. Molly does a few spins and strikes some classic disco poses. He skates backwards in a circle around some of the crowd, much to their delight. His broad smile is clear from across the rink. The lights of the disco ball flash off his jewelry. He’s having such a good time and Caleb is so happy for him. Then Molly throws his hands up in what Caleb recognizes as the starting pose for a cartwheel. Caleb’s heart skips. He clenches the wall of the rink. Molly flips, pausing in a flourished handstand at the top of the arc, but when he tries to stick the landing his legs go in opposite directions. Members of the audience gasp or cry out or cringe with a low sympathetic “Ooooo…”

“Molly!” Caleb leaps back into the rink. He pushes off the wall and uses the momentum to propel himself to his fallen partner. Instead of stopping with the brakes on the skates he just tumbles onto his hands and knee pads. The jolt of impact on his limbs is inconsequential compared to the concern that has him on the verge of panic. “ _Liebling_ are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Molly groans, barely audible over the sounds of the peppy dance music. His legs are tucked into his chest. From the way his tail is curled up by his thighs and quivering, Caleb guesses he pulled a muscle. Molly smiles up at him with a mild wrinkle of confusion in his brow. “Hey wait, how did you get here?”

Caleb has no answer for that. “Oh. Um, I… Er, _keine Ahnung_.”

“Well, however you did it, I’m proud of you.” Molly chuckles through a wince. “Wish I could say the same for myself. That’s what I get for trying to impress you.”

Caleb’s heart sinks and soars at the same time. “Oh, _Mollchen_ , you don’t have to impress me.”

“Well, you said you wanted to watch me dance, and I figured I’d put on a little show for you, but…” Molly shakes his head. “Doesn’t matter now. I did what I did, and it worked until it didn’t. On to the next thing. Arcade?”

“ _Ja,_ ” Caleb says. “ _Ja_ , the arcade sounds like a good idea. It’s just, uhm, now that I’m out here, I…I don’t know if I can get back.”

Molly laughs. “It’s alright, I’ve got you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ve had worse.” Molly pushes himself to his feet. A couple people offer hands to help him and Caleb up as they congratulate Molly on his dancing. Molly accepts their praise with grace and a smile, though Caleb can see the twinge in his cheek from the pain he’s trying to hide.

Caleb tries to recall how he skated into the rink on his own so he doesn’t have to lean on Molly as much. He finds that he can actually pick up his feet and walk somewhat normally, though he has to be careful about putting each foot back down. When he does stumble and throws his weight into Molly he mutters a quiet, “ _Tut mir leid_.”

“It’s alright, you can grab my horns if you need to,” Molly says with a smirking grin. A beat of hot arousal pulses through Caleb’s body that makes his knees crumple, and he knows Molly did it on purpose. Whenever they’re having sex and Caleb is struggling to go harder either because he’s already getting exhausted or he’s too caught up in chasing his climax to focus, Molly will tell him, “You can grab my horns if you need to.” Simply hearing the words triggers Caleb’s desire to cum, even though that was the last thing on his mind a few seconds ago.

They get out of the rink without crashing into anyone. The arcade is off by the lockers, so they get their normal shoes for the time being. Caleb appreciates the feeling of solid footing again. His legs were half-adjusted to having wheels, which makes walking odd at first. Molly sits and does a self-check for any major injuries. Several muscles in his thighs are quite upset with him, but otherwise he’s fine. They find some good two-player games on the arcade’s MAME cabinet, including games Caleb played at friends’ houses as a kid that Molly has never heard of. After about forty-five minutes and ten dollars in quarters later, it’s time for _pin_ ball.

Both Caleb and Molly enjoy a good game of _pin_ ball. They invented it when they both wanted to play at the single available pinball machine at a bar they went to once. Caleb had suggested they each control one flipper, but Molly had a better idea. _Pin_ ball is a form of two-player pinball, except one player stands behind the other and pins them to the machine while they both operate both flippers, switching every time they lose a ball. This means that either player can intentionally lose when they want to switch positions.

They start, as usual, with Molly behind Caleb since he’s taller. This machine is themed around some popular action film that Caleb has heard of but never seen. The main character, a burly half-orc wearing sunglasses and dual-wielding pistols, glowers down at them while they play, flanked by a dwarf with a missile launcher and a _femme fatale_ drow in a red dress holding a dagger. More references to the film that are lost on Caleb decorate the interior. Caleb earns something called “Bloodrain’s Bonus” by shooting the ball up the same ramp three times, one of which was technically Molly’s because his fingers twitched on the button a split second before Caleb’s.

The ball falls into some kind of pit off to the side of the flippers with nothing Caleb or Molly can do about it. Neither of them minds much; it means they get to swap. Caleb nuzzles up against Molly’s back and rests his chin on Molly’s shoulder. Molly crouches just enough to make it easier for Caleb to see the machine. His tail curls up between Caleb’s legs, but it simply swishes back and forth the way Frumpkin’s does when he’s watching the dot from a laser pointer and deciding the best time to pounce. Molly’s reflexes and instincts rack up combo after combo, their score climbs into the millions, the machine flashes with every skilled flick of the flippers. Caleb is barely doing anything because he’s distracted by the tail rubbing innocently yet deliciously against his groin.

Their score surpasses a hundred million. Molly takes his hands off the buttons. The ball falls between the flippers unchallenged. They’ve got two more, but Molly turns in place, allowing himself to still be pinned to the machine facing Caleb. He’s breathing harder than usual. There’s a broad grin across his face. “Sorry about that,” he says. “I just needed to kiss you so fucking bad.”

Caleb smiles in understanding. He holds Molly by the back of the head and kisses him hard. Molly grabs two fistfuls of Caleb’s vest to pull him closer. The machine whirls and whistles for their attention, but it can wait. It’s their first real kiss of the evening, and Caleb has so much to tell Molly with it. He kisses him passionately to show how he enjoyed watching Molly dance, tenderly to soothe any lingering pain from his fall, eagerly to express his own desires for his wonderful partner.

Molly, in return, kisses Caleb with excitement, gratitude, and affection. His forked tongue brushes over Caleb’s lips. There’s no carnal lust to his actions yet, but Caleb doesn’t remove a furtive trip to the restroom from the list of possible outcomes for the evening. He used to be uncomfortable showing his feelings in public. Molly does it with such ease that it wore off on Caleb after a few months of dating. They’ve gotten each other off in restrooms and fitting rooms and even once in a movie theater in the middle of the show. Caleb feels more comfortable when he’s more certain they won’t get caught, though he can’t deny that the thrill of being discovered does something for him.

With their needs fulfilled, they swap places again and finish their game of _pin_ ball. Their final score is enough to earn them a spot in the top ten. They are allowed three letters, so they sign it as “CAC” or “Carnivals and Cats”, their usual team name whenever they enter competitions together.

“Ready for another round on the rink?” Molly asks.

Caleb weighs his options. “One more,” he agrees. “But if either of us falls and gets hurt, we are going home.”

They do fairly well now that they’ve both had some practice. Caleb mostly stays in one place and jives to the music while Molly does more complicated moves. At one point Molly holds Caleb’s wrists tight and spins them both in a tight circle. Caleb laughs with nervousness and delight. He didn’t think he would be able to do something like this, but he trusts Molly. They both remain on their feet, even when Molly slows them back to a stop.

Caleb grows bold and tries to spin on his own. It doesn’t go quite as planned. He doesn’t fall entirely, but Molly still lunges to catch him.

“I— Um, do you, er, feel that we’ve accomplished what we came here to do?” Caleb asks over the music.

Molly nods. “I think we have had a more than sufficient amount of fun. Wouldn’t say ‘no’ to finding more fun elsewhere though.”

Caleb relaxes. He was afraid Molly would be upset at the thought of leaving. “Do you think that Gnomish place is still open?”

“We can find out,” Molly says with a smile.

They return their gear and head for the door. Before they leave, Molly stops. He glances back at the dancefloor.

“What is it?” Caleb asks.

“Well…there was one thing I hoped I’d be able to do, but I didn’t want to fail and drop you.” Molly bites his lip at Caleb. “Do you think I could lift you in the air and spin you around?”

If they were still in skates Caleb would have declined. But on solid ground? “You can certainly try.”

Molly grins. “Okay, brace yourself.” He grips Caleb by the waist. On a count of three, he hoists Caleb into the air. Caleb holds himself up by Molly’s shoulders. Molly twirls them around once, twice, then his arms shake and he carefully sets Caleb back on the ground. They’re both all smiles.

“Why, Mister Mollymauk,” Caleb says. “I do believe you just swept me off my feet.”

“I believe I did, Mister Caleb.” Molly beams. “Just like your smile sweeps me off mine every day.”

Caleb laughs at the cheesy line. His heart flutters all the same from the compliment. “ _Ich liebe dich_ ,” he says.

“Ish ditch ouch,” Molly replies. He grins to show that he knows exactly how much he butchered the Zemnian and that he is unrepentant about it. Caleb gives him a playful shove, then puts his arm around Molly and the two of them exit out to the street. Molly kisses the side of Caleb’s head when the reach the cool night air. “But really, I love you too, darling. I’m so glad you suggested this.”

“Then may I make another suggestion?” Caleb leans in to murmur in Molly’s ear. He feels a blush of his own spread as he describes precisely what he wants to do when they get home.

Molly is a lovely shade of violet when Caleb pulls away to hear his reply. He opens his mouth, but then his stomach growls loudly. “After dinner,” he says with a subtle crack in his voice. “But then yes, please, absolutely.”

Caleb grins. “Very well. Remember to save room for dessert though…”


End file.
